Los Angeles Times, September 11, 1989: Difference between revisions
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"Let Him Dangle," an indictment of capital punishment from ''Spike'', took Costello further into strange, twilight pop: a trombone and tuba oompah (provided by Steve Soles and Jerry Scheff) oozed irony while recalling a New Orleans jazz funeral march; meanwhile, Costello's choked singing and Ribot's wild, thin guitar screeching evoked visions of the tightening noose. | "Let Him Dangle," an indictment of capital punishment from ''Spike'', took Costello further into strange, twilight pop: a trombone and tuba oompah (provided by Steve Soles and Jerry Scheff) oozed irony while recalling a New Orleans jazz funeral march; meanwhile, Costello's choked singing and Ribot's wild, thin guitar screeching evoked visions of the tightening noose. | ||
Before things got too strange, Costello was quickly off on a straight-ahead rockabilly romp, " | Before things got too strange, Costello was quickly off on a straight-ahead rockabilly romp, "Lovable." Throughout the show, he would return to rockabilly as a reference point, as if to say that no matter how far out one cares to go with rock, it's a mistake to forget for long that its essence is a simple shot of energy set to a backbeat. | ||
"God's Comic" may not make Costello beloved among those who do not want to see the Creator depicted as a cosmic joker, but this sarcastic song about a dead comedian's trip to heaven was hellishly entertaining. It featured a snippet of "I'm a Believer" (inserted when the song's protagonist discovers that there ''is'' a heaven), a sing-along chorus and Costello's stand-up routine. | "God's Comic" may not make Costello beloved among those who do not want to see the Creator depicted as a cosmic joker, but this sarcastic song about a dead comedian's trip to heaven was hellishly entertaining. It featured a snippet of "I'm a Believer" (inserted when the song's protagonist discovers that there ''is'' a heaven), a sing-along chorus and Costello's stand-up routine. | ||
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Then came a solo acoustic set in which Costello hit the concert's rage-filled emotional peak: "Tramp the Dirt Down," which excoriates Margaret Thatcher so bitterly that the singer's passion verges on ugliness until a sense of sadness tempers the anger. | Then came a solo acoustic set in which Costello hit the concert's rage-filled emotional peak: "Tramp the Dirt Down," which excoriates Margaret Thatcher so bitterly that the singer's passion verges on ugliness until a sense of sadness tempers the anger. | ||
Once again, Costello built his set with the assurance of a master engineer, surrounding "Tramp the Dirt Down" with lighter, catchy crowd pleasers. A medley of "Radio Sweetheart" and Van Morrison's "Jackie Wilson Said" preceded it, and a lively "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes" followed it (the latter song, with its refrain, "I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused," seemed to serve as a reminder that the degree of bitterness in "Tramp the Dirt Down" can't be sustained for long; it must give way to a sense of irony that allows one to bear up under harsh reality without being consumed by it). | Once again, Costello built his set with the assurance of a master engineer, surrounding "Tramp the Dirt Down" with lighter, catchy crowd pleasers. A medley of "Radio Sweetheart" and Van Morrison's "Jackie Wilson Said" preceded it, and a lively "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes" followed it (the latter song, with its refrain, ''"I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused,"'' seemed to serve as a reminder that the degree of bitterness in "Tramp the Dirt Down" can't be sustained for long; it must give way to a sense of irony that allows one to bear up under harsh reality without being consumed by it). | ||
Toward the end of the show, Costello brought it all back home, linking the concert's stylistic strands in satisfying fashion. The sequence started with an overlap of old and new: "Watching the Detectives," one of four songs Costello played from his first album, was recast as a chromatic, jazz-flavored excursion with plenty of strange, new Ribotics. Then came "Pads, Paws and Claws" in which rockabilly and blues collided with Costello's new experimentalism. | Toward the end of the show, Costello brought it all back home, linking the concert's stylistic strands in satisfying fashion. The sequence started with an overlap of old and new: "Watching the Detectives," one of four songs Costello played from his first album, was recast as a chromatic, jazz-flavored excursion with plenty of strange, new Ribotics. Then came "Pads, Paws and Claws" in which rockabilly and blues collided with Costello's new experimentalism. | ||
The finale, "Pump It Up," was reworked to sound like something out of Bob Dylan's raw-rocking | The finale, "Pump It Up," was reworked to sound like something out of Bob Dylan's raw-rocking ''Highway 61 Revisited'' period: The Rude 5 gave it a chunkier beat than the original, along with new blues and rockabilly inflections. | ||
"Pump It Up" was one of the few numbers in which the Rude 5 achieved the blast-force drive of Costello's final U.S. tour with the Attractions, after the 1986 album, ''Blood | "Pump It Up" was one of the few numbers in which the Rude 5 achieved the blast-force drive of Costello's final U.S. tour with the Attractions, after the 1986 album, ''Blood & Chocolate'' (drummer Pete Thomas is the only ex-Attraction still with Costello). | ||
But Costello's new band gives away nothing in musicianship, and it provides him with a much wider palette of sounds and musical styles than the Attractions. | But Costello's new band gives away nothing in musicianship, and it provides him with a much wider palette of sounds and musical styles than the Attractions. | ||
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One could quibble that one new song, the groove-oriented "Chewing Gum," did not measure up to Costello's melodic standards, or that Blair's glockenspiel plinking gave "Alison" a bit too much sweetening. But this was a savory show that makes one hungry to see what Costello will come up with next as he makes his way as a pop adventurer — and quite an entertaining one at that. | One could quibble that one new song, the groove-oriented "Chewing Gum," did not measure up to Costello's melodic standards, or that Blair's glockenspiel plinking gave "Alison" a bit too much sweetening. But this was a savory show that makes one hungry to see what Costello will come up with next as he makes his way as a pop adventurer — and quite an entertaining one at that. | ||
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{{tags}}[[Concert 1989-09-09 Irvine|Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre]] {{-}} [[Irvine]] {{-}} [[CA|California]] {{-}} [[The Rude 5]] {{-}} [[The{{nb}}Beloved Entertainer]] {{-}} [[Spike]] {{-}} [[Marc Ribot]] {{-}} [[Michael Blair]] {{-}} [[Tom Waits]] {{-}} [[Alison]] {{-}} [[Veronica]] {{-}} [[Accidents Will Happen]] {{-}} [[Clubland]] {{-}} [[The Attractions]] {{-}} [[Let Him Dangle]] {{-}} [[Steven Soles]] {{-}} [[Jerry Scheff]] {{-}} [[Pete Thomas]] {{-}} [[Lovable]] {{-}} [[God's Comic]] {{-}} [[I'm A Believer]] {{-}} [[Tramp The Dirt Down]] {{-}} [[Margaret Thatcher]] {{-}} [[Radio Sweetheart]] {{-}} [[Van Morrison]] {{-}} [[Jackie Wilson Said]] {{-}} [[(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes]] {{-}} [[Watching The Detectives]] {{-}} [[Pads, Paws And Claws]] {{-}} [[Pump It Up]] {{-}} [[Bob Dylan]] {{-}} [[:Category:Costello Sings Again Tour|Costello Sings Again Tour]] {{-}} [[Blood & Chocolate]] {{-}} [[Chewing Gum]] | |||
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Latest revision as of 21:24, 23 October 2022
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